Best PlacesCollin County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Collin County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Collin County ranks 20th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $135,868, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are property taxes, air quality, and tree cover.
The best neighborhoods in Collin County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Collin County
The parts of Collin County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Prosper & Celina
More households have young kids, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Frisco
More adults hold degrees and schools score higher.
McKinney
More residents vote and crime runs lower.
Fairview, Lucas & Farmersville
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Wylie & Murphy
Prices have run up less, though commutes are longer.
Allen
Scores close to Wylie & Murphy, except that streets are more walkable here.
Plano & Richardson
Transit reaches more jobs, though heat risk is higher.
Dallas
Scores close to Plano & Richardson, except that health care is easier to reach here.
Anna, Princeton & Melissa
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Collin County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Collin County's strengths and weaknesses
Collin County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. High incomes and population health follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Property taxes, air quality, and tree cover hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Collin County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of counties
- Household income$135,868 median, better than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of counties
Where Collin County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 18% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 19% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 20% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Collin County
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Collin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $135,868; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Collin County's effective rate of 1.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Collin County
Collin County's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Collin County.
Who works in Collin County, and how
Work in Collin County centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Collin County
Collin County has more parkland per resident than 82% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 82% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Collin County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Collin County growing, and who is moving in?
Collin County has grown about 42% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Dallas, TX metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Collin County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Collin County, month by month
Collin County sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 35° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 75° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Collin County
Dallas Love Field sits about 21 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 8.2 million passengers in 2025, with 91 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Collin County
Schools across Collin County average a B+, better than 87% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Skaggs ElA+ · 78% proficient
- Tibbals ElA+ · 77% proficient
- Wyatt ElA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lawler MiddleA+ · 90% proficient
- Fowler MiddleA+ · 86% proficient
- Pioneer Heritage MiddleA+ · 83% proficient
Top high schools
- Wakeland H SA+ · 89% proficient
- Lovejoy H SA+ · 85% proficient
- Centennial H SA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Collin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Collin County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Collin County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Collin County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 28% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Collin County
Is Collin County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Collin County ranks 20th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and population health, and lowest on property taxes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Collin County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $515,894. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $135,868 median income, cost of living beats 100% of counties.
Is Collin County safe?
Yes, Collin County is safer than 65% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $363 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Collin County?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 35. That works out to about 139 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Collin County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Prosper & Celina, Frisco, and McKinney. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Collin County good for families?
Schools beat 87% of counties, crime safety beats 65%, and childcare runs $863 a month.
Is Collin County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 93% of counties. About 28% of workers already work from home.
Compare Collin County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Collin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Collin County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Collin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Collin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Collin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Collin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Collin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Collin County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.